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Thursday, March 21, 2013

FORMER MANCHESTER UNITED DIRECTOR, DYKE SET TO SUCEED BERNSTEIN AS FA CHAIRMAN

The Football Association has announced that former Manchester United director and BBC director general
Greg Dyke will become the governing body's new chairman in the summer.

The sixty five years old TV Mogul will replace Bernstein when
he leaves the post after two-and-a-half years in July – and takes the
helm from Saturday July 13.The FA said in a statement: 'The
Football Association Board has today unanimously approved the nomination
for Greg Dyke to be appointed independent FA chairman.

Dyke,
65, will take over as chairman from David Bernstein when he leaves the
post after two-and-a-half years in July - subject to approval by the FA
council. The appointment will take effect from Saturday, July 13.'This follows a recruitment process led
by FA independent director Roger Devlin (chairman of the nominations
committee) with fellow board members Roger Burden and Keith Lamb.

'In
a high-profile broadcasting industry career, Dyke has worked as
director general of the BBC and managing director of London Weekend
Television.

'Dyke has had a
long background in football. He was a director of Manchester United in
the late nineties and since 2006 he has been non-executive chairman of
Brentford Football Club, the team he supported as a boy. He will
relinquish this role at the end of the season to take up his new post at
the FA.'

Dyke,
who will be joined on the FA board by United chief executive David
Gill, who leaves Old Trafford in the summer, told the FA website:
'Football has always been a big part of my life whether playing
11-a-side on Sunday mornings or six-a-side on Thursday evenings.

Dyke has experience in football, having worked as a director at Manchester United from 1997 to 1999, as well as acting as non-executive chairman at League One side Brentford since 2006.

"Football has always been a big part of my life, whether playing 11-a-side on Sunday mornings or six-a-side on Thursday evenings," he told TheFA.com. "I supported my local team, Brentford, as a kid where my elder brother was a junior, watched York City while at university and followed Manchester United whenever I could.

"I got involved in how the game was run when I was first involved in buying sports rights as chairman of ITV Sport in the late '80s and later at the BBC. I learnt a lot in the years when I was on the board of Manchester United and have seen the other side of the professional game at Brentford."

He added: "Obviously as chairman of The FA it is imperative that I am neutral so that means giving up my current role as chairman of Brentford, which I will miss. However, I shall be staying on until the end of the season.

"As I leave I would like to pay tribute to everyone at Brentford - the staff, the players and manager and particularly the fans. I hope their loyalty is rewarded with promotion. It deserves to be."